Spin is our strength and we prepare wickets accordingly – Asalanka

Sri Lanka Captain Charith Asalanka receives the Honor Singer T20I series trophy

Player of the Series Pathum Nissanka

• “When you have a good bench strength, the players chosen to represent will deliver”

Player of the Match Kusal Mendis

Sa’adi Thawfeeq reporting 

from Dambulla

Sri Lanka’s winning Captain Charith Asalanka said that spin was his team’s strength and the wickets were prepared accordingly to help his spinners win the three-match T20I contest against West Indies by a 2-1 margin.

“We believe that we can win with spin. We prepared wickets accordingly and when that goes to plan things work out well for us,” said Asalanka at the post-match press conference. “Even our quicks, both of them did a decent job when they were called up. We need to build up a few more back up pace options for us to compete well when we go overseas,”

Reacting to West Indies Coach Daren Sammy’s comments, Asalanka said, “Even in the first game we expected a pitch with a bit of turn. But due to the rain, the curators couldn’t get what we wanted. If you see, we have done well with the bat as showcased by today. When you look at the scoreboard you can’t blame the pitch too much.”

It was Sri Lanka’s maiden bilateral series win in this format against West Indies and Asalanka said that he was pleased with the way his team played.

“We did a lot of planning. Everyone contributed well for the series win. We have created permanent positions for players and we have substitutes for them on the bench as well. We have good bench strength. When you have a good bench strength, the players chosen to represent will deliver. We had a few issues with our lower middle order batting and that’s the reason why we drafted Bhanuka Rajapaksa. Hope it will be a good move in the future.”

“We thought we needed to keep them (West Indies) to a total of 140-150. But in one over they got too many runs and they tried to maintain that momentum. When we came back into the dressing room we didn’t let our body language drop. We told ourselves that this pitch is better than what we thought it to be. I realised it even when I bowled. To be honest, we went in for the chase with a positive frame of mind. The start that Kusal (Mendis) and Pathum (Nissanka) gave was sensational.”

The two openers rattled off 60 runs inside the first power play to set the stage for Sri Lanka to chase down West Indies’ total of 162.

Commenting on the two award winners Player of the Match Kusal Mendis and Player of the Series Pathum Nissanka, Asalanka said, “Kusal has been working hard and he had a clear plan. You have to have a good game plan which Kusal has and it is that game plan that helped him to pull things off.”

“Pathum has been sensational for us. He has been in good form in the last three years. That’s the best plus point we have got. Pathum was struggling with a quad injury but he didn’t show it to us. We tried to give him certain fielding positions today. He did his job for the team with the bat. He has about 72 hours now to recover and we are hopeful he will be good for the ODIs.”

Explaining what improvements the team underwent since the series against India, Asalanka said, “What we told the boys was that if someone had got a good start he needs to finish it off. If you see the last T20I against India, we had a good start but we failed to finish it off. We wanted to rectify that and today is a good example. We just needed three batters to chase down the target. When that fails, only the middle order has to deliver.”

On the impact new head coach Sanath Jayasuriya has on the team, Asalanka said, “We are building a culture whereby we are giving players the freedom to play their natural game. Sanath as coach is not restricting the players but allowing them to play their natural game. He tries to keep everyone calm. As Captain I expect 100 percent commitment from all the players.”

Sri Lanka will carry this T20I victory into the three-match ODI series which begins at the Pallekele Stadium on Sunday.